The Artist / Billie Eilish

Chapter 7

I was woken up to the sound of running water, accompanied by soft humming.

Gentle daylight was coating the hotel room through the yellow blinds, creating an almost golden glow, and I noticed a trail of oversized clothes worth more than my existence leading to the bathroom.

Chuckling to myself, I stretched and rubbed my eyes as I heard the water shut off - Billie's humming still filling the apartment. The door creaked open and her head popped out; her wet, black hair all over the place.

"Yo, Rose... Could you get me that towel over there please?" She smiled goofily, and I quickly retrieved her towel after rolling my eyes.

Just as I was about to change, there was a knock on the door, followed by muffled voices.

Glancing down at myself, I noticed all I had on was Billie's hoodie and some panties - my hair was scruffy and I had no makeup o-

"Aye Dosey Rosie, you gonna get that? Or?" I heard Billie call from the other room, laughing loudly to herself about her new nickname.

•

"So... Billie's hoodie, huh?"

Ethan wiggled his eyebrows at me as we entered the hotel room later that day, throwing all of the shopping bags on the bed.

Billie had soundcheck again today at a different venue in town, so Ethan and I decided to go around some malls he knew. Now, we had a couple hours to kill before we were meeting the group for dinner.

Rolling my eyes, I walked straight past Ethan and opened the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water.

"You know it isn't even like that, E," I took a sip of my water and shoved him playfully in the chest.

I saw a mischievous glint in his eyes, and automatically backed up, putting my water on the counter.

"Ethan..." I warned, slowly backing into the couch.

Without warning, he lunged at me, sending us both tumbling backwards into the couch.

I couldn't hear the sound of the door opening over our laughing, but the sound of someone clearing their throat was enough for us to jump up away from each other.

Billie awkwardly stood in the doorway, her face blushing red, trying to avoid eye contact with us.

"Uh," she mumbled, laughing uncomfortably. "Shit, bruh. Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt..."

Ethan chuckled as I blushed.

"You didn't interrupt anything, I'm sor-"

Billie laughed, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and leaning against the counter, watching us. "So how long have y'all been a thing? I had no idea."

The atmosphere in the room was unexplainably awkward, and Ethan cleared his throat. I avoided looking at Billie's smirk.

"We're not, bro," he breathily laughed before scratching the back of his neck. "We've just been friends forever."

"Mhm," she hummed, biting her lip with a smile. "Because friends do that."

She let her comment sink in before laughing again and making her way to the bedroom, not listening to Ethan mumble something about it only being tickling.

Once the black-haired girl shut the door behind her, E raised his eyebrows at me, whistling lowly.

"Someone's jealous..." he sang under his breath, laughing as I smacked him again.

•

After spending a lot of time convincing Billie we couldn't get burritos for the second night in a row, we went to a juice bar.

... She was not happy.

"Burritos to fucking juice? Did I do something to offend everyone? Damn."

Everyone chuckled at Billie as she pouted, slouching in the corner of the booth.

Light chatter emerged amongst the group as they started to look at the menus, and I slid a bit closer to Billie.

"Come on, Bil," I laughed, opening a menu for us. A little smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "Look, there are some nice ones. 'Ocean Breeze'. Ooh, exotic."

Billie rolled her eyes, giggling and snatching the menu off me. "You're such a dork. A cute dork, but a dork."

Before I could say anything back, Ethan called me up to the counter to put our orders in. When I looked back at Billie for her order, she just mumbled "surprise me, mamas," from behind the menu.

Soon enough, we were all around the booth with our drinks. Billie was still disgusted, but was sipping her drink regardless.

As I was talking to Finneas, Billie leant over the booth to take a sip from my straw - processing to sit back and grimace.

"What the fuck," she hissed, wiping her tongue with a napkin. "Dude, that's so gross. What the hell is in that?"

She pretended to gag before I lightly kicked her under the table, and she immediately laughed.

"Don't steal my drink without my permission and then complain about it, dumbass," I mumbled, smirking at her before taking a sip out of her cup.

She had a playful twinkle in her eyes that seemed to light up her whole face, and she just smiled, looking down to play with her rings.

"Okay y'all," Macy piped up, finishing off her juice. "Is everyone happy with the sleeping rota for this week? I can change it around if y'all wanna. It's getting changed next week anyways. Everyone happy?"

Everyone nodded - Billie's eyes meeting mine as she did, smiling and biting down on her straw.